oevis



A UNITEDv4 STATES PATENT-1 OFFICE.

OREL D. ORVIS AND NELSON B. ADAMS, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

sTRgET-SWEAEP'ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent vNo. 293,908, datedFebruary 19, 1884.

AApplication filed November 6, 1883. (No model.)

1"'0 @ZZ 1071/077@ it nfl/tty` concern.-

Be it known that we, OREL D. ORVls and NELSON B. ADAMS, bothof the city,county,

and State of New York, have invented a ceraforesaid patent consists oftunnels below the surface of the street, each containing a trackrail'and each communicating with the street by a narrow longitudinal slot,and the cars for use upon such street-railways'are connected with theirwheels, which run on the track-rails in the tunnels, by means of thinvertical plates,which pass through the narrow longitudinal slots. werekrun over a street provided with a railway structure of the kind abovedescribed,

dirt and snow would be brushed through the longitudinal slots, and toprevent the accumulation of dirt in the tunnels .from impeding thetraffic it would be necessary to clean them out frequently, whilesnowwould melt and render the tunnels wet and dirty.-

One object of ourinvention therefore is to enable streets provided withour railway structure to be swept without brushing dirt and snow throughthe slots into the tunnels; and to this end the invention consists inthe combination, in a sweeper for use in connec tion with a railwaystructure of the kind de-l scribed, of a body or platform and wheelsconnected by vertical plates, a brush or brushes, and plates or guardscarried by thevsweeper, arranged below the brush or brushes, and servingto close the longitudinal slots temporarily as the brush or brushessweep across them. We make these guards or plates of hinged sections orotherwise flexible, so that they will readily follow any curvesA in thetrack and slots.

If an ordinary sweeperv plates, so as toenter the slots, and serving toclear the slots and throw upward and out of vthem any obstructions bywhich they may be clogged.

The feature of our invention which is ap- 6o plicable to street-sweepersgenerally consists in the combination, with the body of asweeper,

'of a yielding frame connected therewith,- a

driving-wheel supported in said yielding frame and having a bevel-wheelat its side, and a rotary brush provided with a bevelwheel gearing withthe bevel-wheel first named, the yielding frame enables the wheel tomaintain a proper frictional engagement with the irregularstreet'surface. 7o

The invention also consists in a novel construction of said frame,whereby it is made capable .of yielding within itself while itis rigidlyconnected to the body of the sweeper.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal section of oneof the track-tunnels lof a street-railway structure of the kind abovedescribed, and a side view of a sweeper embodying our invention'. Fig. 2is a trans verse section of the structure and sweeper. 8o Fig. 3 is aplan of the two longitudinal slots' of the structure, and a horizontalsection of the sweeper in a plane just below the body or platform, theoutline of the body or platform being represented by dotted lines5-andFigs. 8 5 4 and 5 are respectively a side view and a plan upon a largerscale of a portion of one of the guards which are carried by thesweeper.

Similar letters of reference designate correspending parts in all thefigures. r 9o The street-railway structure here shown is substantiallylike that shown in our aforesaid Letters Patent. Thev structure isprincipally formed of masonry A, and comprises two tunnels, B, each ofwhich contains a trackrail, a, 95

and a third tunnel, C, located between the tunnels B. VThe third tunnelC may contain gas or water pipes C', and telegraph or other electricwires, or cables may be extended through it. In the tunnels B areplaced, at intervals, ties or frames D, which may be made of cast-iron,and are arched lover the tunnel C, and connected as shown at D. Thepropulsion is effected by a traveling rope or cable, E, and in thetmmels B are placed wheels or sheaves Z), for supporting said rope orcable. Each tunnel B communicates with the street-surface F by a narrowlongitudinal slot, c, the width of which is preserved uniform bylongitudinal bars d, secured to the ties or frames D, and against whichthe paving-blocks c are laid.

G designates the wheels of the sweeper, which run upon the rails a, andthe frames G of which are connected with the body or platform H of thesweeper by vertical plates GrL passing through, and adapted to slide ormove in the narrow longitudinal slots c. l

I designates the grip whereby the sweeper is attached to the rope orcable E, and which is also connected with the body or platform H by athin vertical plate, I, which moves in the slot c.

The rotary brushes J are supported by hangers J/, depending from thebody or platform H, and are arranged obliquely, as is customary. At theinner ends of the brushes is a driving-wheel, K, having a broad surface,which may be faced with india rubber or other suitable material, andadapted to be rotated by frictional contact with the street-surface asthe sweeper moves along. The wheel K has at opposite sides bevel-wheelsf, which gear with bevel-wheels f/ on the brushes J, and so rotate thelatter. In order to preserve the proper frictional contact of thedriving-wheel K with the irregular surface of the ground, we supportsaid wheel in a yielding frame connected with the body or platform H.The frame here shown consists of four springs, two of which, 7L 71,extend transversely ofthe body or platform II, andthe other two ofwhich, i i, extend longitudinally thereof. These springs are connectedtogether at their ends, or are produced integral with each other, so asto form a rectangular frame. The two springs h 7L have an upwardflexure, and are secured to the platform H at about the middle ot' theirlength. The springs t' i have a downward flexure, and have the bearingsof the wheel K connected to their lowermost points. This arrangement ofsprings will allow the wheel K to yield upward, and yet will hold itpressed against the street-surihce with sufficient force to insure therotation of the brushes. The brushes J work across the slots c, andtherefore would brush snow and dirt through the slots into the tunnelsB, unless means were taken to prevent l it. In order to temporarilyclose the slots c,

below the brushes J, we provide guards or plates L, which are connectedwith the sweeper, and are of a size to nearly ill the slots. As hereshown, these guards or plates L exneeting the wheel-fran'lcs G with theplatform H to the plate I, which connects the grip I with the platform;but if the grip should be arranged forward or in rear of the wheels G,as might be desirable, then the guard would extend from one to the otherof the plates G2. The upper edges of the guards or plates L are aboutlevel with the street-surface, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the brusheswork over them, and they prevent dirt and snow from dropping into thetunnels. These guards L may be of metal or other material, and to enablethem to turn curves we prefer to make them flexible. This may be done bymaking them of plates or pieces j, connected by knuckles or eyes j andpintles in the same manner that hinge-leaves are connected. Theirconstruction is most clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

In order to clear the slots c ol' any obstructions in advance of thesweeper we ,attach to the vertical plates G2, at one end of the sweeper,curved plates or pieces k. (Shown best in Fig. I.) These pieces run inthe slots c, and form plows for throwing any obstructions upward andoutward from the slots.

Vhat we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

I. The combination, in a sweeper for use upon a railway structure of thekind herein described, of a platform and wheels connected by verticalplates, a' brush or brushes, and plates or guards arranged below thebrush or brushes and serving to temporarily close the longitudinal slotsas the brush or brushes sweep across them, substantially ashereindescribed.

2. The, combination, in a sweeper for use upon a railway structure ofthe kind herein described, of a platform and wheels connected byvertical plates, a brush or brushes, and plates or guards composed ofhinged sections arranged below the brush or brushes and serving totemporarily close the longitudinal slots as thebrush or brushes sweepacross them, substantially as herein described.

3. The combination, in a sweeper for use upon a railway structure of thekind herein described, of a platform and wheels connected by verticalplates' extending through longitudinal slots, and plows projecting infront of said plates, entering said slots, and serving to throw upwardand out of lthe slots any obstructions by which they may be clogged,substantially as herein described.

4. The combination, with the body or platform of a street-sweeper, of ayielding frame connected therewith, a driving-wheel supported in saidyielding frame and by it held in frictional contact with thestreet-surface, a bevel-wheel at the side of said driving-wheel, and abrush provided with a bevel-wheel en gaging with the first-mentionedbevel-wheel, substantially as herein described.

5. The combination, with the body or plattend from one of the verticalplates G2, conl form of a street-sweeper, of a yielding frame IOO IIO

composed of springs h h i z', the springs 71J 7L l eeiving motion fromsaid Wheel, substantially having an upward ieXure and being connected asherein described. between their ends to the body or platform, OREL D.ORVIS.

and Jhe springs M having a downwardilexure Y NELSON B. ADAMS. 5 andbeing connectedat their ends to the ends Vitnesses:

of the springs h h, a driving-wheel supported FREDK. HAYNEs,

by the springs fi fi, and a brush or brushes rel ED. L. MORAN.

